Barkbuddy is like Tinder for dogs (actual canines)

Good news, dog fans: The Barkbuddy app lets you choose an appropriate breed in much the same way singletons choose a mate on Tinder.

It’s important to select a mutt that will fit in with your lifestyle — after all a dog is for life, not just for Christmas/birthdays/weekends (delete as applicable). The new Barkbuddy app lets you select a dog that is waiting to be adopted, from a location near you.

The interface is very similar to dating app Tinder. You swipe left (no) and right (yes), depending on whether you like the look of a dog. Yes and no are also represented by a heart or an ‘X’ below the image of the dog, should you feel swiping is a tad too dismissive. Parameters, such as breed, gender, age and location can be set with sliders in the settings menu.

If you like the look of a dog you can find out more about it by tapping its image. You can also share the dog’s profile on Facebook to inspire others to adopt.

As you begin to vet the furry friends for suitability and add them to your ‘Favourites’, the app tracks your preferences and then uses geolocation to find more suitable, available dogs in your area. A ‘stats’ function lets you research dog breeds more specifically suited to your lifestyle.

Listings are provided by the PetFinder Web site, which pulls data from shelters’ websites.

The Bark&Co. team, founders of BarkBuddy, have been testing the app after a soft launch, but it’s now available to you for free on iTunes.